Mainland China's ongoing military modernization has continued to shift Taiwan-China military balance in Beijing's favor despite warming cross-strait relations, a U.S. congressional commission report said Thursday.

President Ma Ying-jeou said in an interview published Thursday that he believes Taiwan's relations with China will “get back on track” very soon following meetings between officials from the two sides in Beijing earlier this week.

Taiwan's minister of national development said Wednesday that he is confident the bold criticisms of President Ma Ying-jeou published by a Chinese Communist Party-affiliated newspaper are unconnected to the island's plans for free economic pilot zones.

Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) said Wednesday that senior civil servants and officials whose work is related to national security will be barred from pursuing advanced studies in China, effective Thursday.

Taiwan maintains good relations with the United States, China and Japan, but its maneuvering space has been squeezed due to the competition and misgivings among the three, a former National Security Council (NSC ，國安會) head said Wednesday.

It is “not impossible” for a meeting between leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Strait to take place in the future, yet the meeting will not take place until both sides have agreed on several important issues, a former U.S. official said yesterday in Taipei